Thea Chacamaty is a writer, editor, and educator based in the Bay Area.
Thea Chacamaty was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She moved to San Francisco to take classes at essentially every Bay Area community college until she eventually earned her BA in English from Mills College in 2010. She received her MFA from the University of Michigan Helen Zell Writers' Program, where she was also a 2019-2020 Postgraduate Zell Fellow. She was also a 2024-2025 Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University.
She has taught at the University of Michigan and the Attic Institute in Portland, OR. In a previous life, she fronted the band Cruel Summer, dubbed “San Francisco’s jangle darlings.”
Thea lives in Marin County with her family, and is currently at work on a novel about the Northern California coast, punk rock, climate collapse, and motherhood.
Publications
"Vacation Home in Southland" - Thirty Cabins, Vol. 1, 2026
"Death of Marat" - Colorado Review, 2025
"Real Estate" - Missouri Review, 2025
Honorable Mention in Best American Short Stories 2026
“Good Mother” - Hopkins Review, 2025
“Bounty” - Indiana Review, 2025
“Harm Reduction” - Michigan Quarterly Review, 2023
Winner of the 2024 Lawrence Prize for Fiction
Nominated for the Pushcart Prize
“Sun Damage” - Southern Review, 2023
“Earthquake Weather” - Missouri Review, 2020
Honors & Awards
Chapman House Residency, forthcoming
Ragdale Residency, 2026
Virginia Center for Creative Arts Residency, 2025
Steinbeck Fellowship, 2024-2025
Tin House Autumn Workshop, 2024
Yaddo Residency, 2024
Michigan Quarterly Review’s Lawrence Foundation Prize for “Harm Reduction,” 2024
In Cahoots Residency Grant, 2024
Tucson Literary Festival, Second Place for “Sun Damage,” 2022
Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference (full scholarship), 2021
Writing by Writers Boulder (full scholarship), 2020
Zell Postgraduate Fellowship, 2019-2020
Henfield Prize for short fiction, 2019
Kasdan Scholarship in screenwriting, 2019
Tin House Summer Workshop, 2018
Hopwood Award for short fiction, 2018
Manuscript Consultation
Developmental edits for book-length and shorter projects
Application Wizardry
Consulting services* for your MFA applications, residency applications, or query letters
*Free application advice/review/editing available for members of underserved communities (please email me!)
Ghostwriting
I have experience editing and writing client-directed novel-length manuscripts
Copyediting + Proofreading
I have extensive experience perfecting printed materials, website & ad copy, as well as fiction & nonfiction manuscripts
Literary Representation:
Samantha Shea
samantha@gbagency.com
Georges Borchardt, Inc.
136 East 57th Street, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10022